Boris Johnson urges people who are celebrating New Year's Eve to take a Covid test first and 'remember the importance of ventilation'.
The NHS Confederation, which represents health and care leaders, said it was "encouraging" to see so many people coming forward for a booster jab, but it had heard from some vaccination centres that as many of 40% of booked appointments were resulting in no-shows.
NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor added: "Cases of Omicron are rising rapidly... Health leaders are worried about the level of illness and demand that their staff across the NHS could have to respond to in January, and so it is vital that everyone who is eligible takes up the offer of a jab or booster shot."
The health secretary said on Thursday he expects the government will need to "constrain" supply of rapid tests for two weeks to manage surging demand, but confirmed the supply of lateral flow tests in the UK was being tripled in January and February to 300 million a month.
In his new year message, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the UK needed leadership to ensure the "sacrifices and pain of the past two years of the pandemic" had not been in vain. He pledged to bring forward a plan to offer security and prosperity to voters.
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